I was reborn without dreams

Chapter 106 Liu Yuanshan's Defenses Are Broken
Uncle Zhang didn't want the school built in some remote corner; it had to be bright and easily visible. This was practically an absolute requirement, and anyone else wouldn't have been able to comply. But Pengcheng certainly has capable people here.

"Mr. Zhang, this road existed back during the War of Resistance against Japan. Countless wheelbarrows have traveled on it. Do you know why so many place names around here are either called something like 'Establishment Pass' or something like 'Establishment'?"

“I know, this area used to be a flood zone. There’s also the Da Sha River to the south, which was originally the old course of the Yellow River. To the west of here is the Fuxin River, which runs north-south, and further west is a small river called the Zhang River. That area was also like that, with places like Xu Di Kou and Teng Di Kou, everywhere.”

"..."

You...you know that?
The people at Pengcheng Civil Affairs Bureau were completely bewildered. "Wait, what are you doing, you're from Shazhou?"

But to be fair, asking this question really hit Uncle Zhang's nail on the head. The reason is simple: for the first ten years after returning from the battlefield, the old man Zhang Qihong worked with the army to dig drainage ditches here.

Among the first generation of "river carriers" in Jiangkou Province, Zhang Qihong had quite a few fellow workers here.

Even after twenty years, some people will still wonder why what looks like a "fertile field," or even a vast plain, seems as barren as a mountain valley.
The problem lies here: the vast flooded area created after the Yellow River breached its banks caused a large amount of high-quality arable land in Pengcheng to be directly transformed from soil into sandy loam.

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the northern part of Jiangkou Province was filled with rotten land that yielded only 60 jin per mu. At the same time, the paddy fields in the southern part of the province could produce 600 jin per mu without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Therefore, in order to control sandy soil, the first thirty years were almost entirely spent battling with water conservancy projects.

Back then, it wasn't mechanized tunneling; it all depended on mobilizing grassroots organizations. Tens of thousands of people in a township, regardless of their social status, even those who used to have bound feet, would go up to the riverbank to boil water for tea.

From Pengcheng to Wudu, the entire Jiangkou Province was mobilized in this way, with only slight differences. In the north, the main purpose was to "control desertification and protect farmland." When necessary, some existing small rivers were dug out by manpower to dig out the soil more than ten meters deep, and then the surface was transformed.

It differs slightly from the flood control, drainage, and land reclamation methods used in the south.

Therefore, in the former flood-prone areas of the Yellow River, there were no historical place names with the words "dike" or "dike mouth". In order to control water and sand and protect farmland, these unique geographical coordinates were created.

The old man Zhang Qihong mainly worked in a riverbed north of Fengyi City. At that time, there wasn't much oil or fat, and people relied on staple foods for energy.

At that time, white flour steamed buns were extremely precious, at least in the Pengcheng area, and it wasn't a time when they could be eaten freely. It wasn't until the second decade that the yield of sandy soil was improved through the construction of small-scale rural water conservancy projects with a large amount of manpower. In addition, water could be stored and flooded through a large number of artificial waterways, and the area of ​​irrigated land increased significantly.

During this period, people could eat white flour steamed buns without restraint, but not to the point of complete abandonment, as the terrifying memory of the Yellow River floods still lingered in their minds.

However, in the second decade, the mobilization of "river digging" shifted from emergency improvement to more meticulous agricultural irrigation. The second peak of grain production in Pengcheng City occurred in the last three or four years of the second decade.

By this time, the old man had left the army and had never been to Pengcheng again, let alone Fengyi.

However, at that time, some villagers who were working in the village asked a village clerk to write a letter to Zhang Qihong, hoping to get some fertilizer and see what fertilizer was.

The old man managed to get a tractor-load of fertilizer, but it wasn't much—ten bags weighing 500 jin (250 kg).

Of course, there are quite a few.

The old man was quite resourceful to be able to get so much fertilizer back then.

In reality, it was just that the old man was confronting the factory manager with a shovel in the factory, and he called on a dozen or so veterans to do a heist together.

In the end, nothing serious happened. On the contrary, the commune where Jiyang County was located wrote a letter of praise...

Shazhou City didn't exist yet; it would be a couple of years later.

The old man would always recount these old stories when he finished eating in the countryside. He started talking about them when Zhang Zhengdong was a child, and then he would talk about them to the younger generation when Zhang Dasu, Zhang Da'an and other younger generations were born.

However, Uncle Zhang was still aware of his father's past relationships and connections.

He may be a fool, but he's still mentally sound.

It's easy to kill a conversation these days.

"How large was the scale of the township consolidation project in Fengyi County last year?"

Uncle Zhang suddenly changed the subject and asked about something that seemed unrelated.

Still in shock, the group quickly cleared their minds of all distractions and focused on dealing with the unreliable Director Zhang.

"Chenzhuang Township has been changed to Chenzhuang Town, merging with one and a half surrounding townships, and the total population has exceeded 60,000."

"Sixty thousand..."

Upon hearing this number, Zhang Zhengdong took out his notebook, opened it to a page containing a special query form, tapped on one of the lines, and said, "Five hundred acres of land, six grades, which is twenty classes, with a fluctuation of five classes, averaging fifty students per class."

"what?"

"Director Zhang, this... what do you mean by this?"

"Director Zhang, shouldn't we take another look? Let's take another look?"

That's too hasty.

You pull out a small notebook, look at it and point at it. Who knows if you're pulling out a diary or an old almanac?
Isn't this utter nonsense?

I've never seen a job done like this before.

However, Uncle Zhang had no intention of using his brain to do things. He breathed out a breath, and a "white mist" appeared due to the cold weather. Wearing gloves, Uncle Zhang pointed ahead and said, "This road leads directly to the county town. We can find a midpoint between the county town and Chenzhuang Town. We can apply for land for the roadside, but it would be best to do it here."

As he spoke, a small circle appeared on a folded map of Fengyi County.

"This is... Yingzi River?"

"This river is good; it can be used to transport grain."

"what?"

The group of people, whose thinking had completely fallen behind Uncle Zhang's pace, were utterly dumbfounded. They felt that these were all completely unrelated things.

All I could think about was "Aba aba aba..."

Uncle Zhang didn't really understand many things, but that didn't stop him from at least understanding his good nephew, who was planning to send the Jiangkou Province Youth Development Foundation to the "crater," thanks to the guidance of his good brother Liu Yuanshan.

This forced the foundation to live in constant fear while also having to go all out to support the "Zhang An Education" public welfare cause.

Don't ask, the answer is simply that children are the flowers of our motherland.

As for Zhang Da'an... he's also a child, a flower, just a bit older.

"Director Zhang, why is running a school related to grain transportation?"

"That's right. After the school construction site is planned, laborers, manual laborers, and those with low technical requirements will be recruited from within the school's enrollment area. I've already mentioned this before, right?"

"Uh...right."

"Those who are willing to send their children to school will be given priority in recruitment and training."

"what?"

“I know many rural families who think that once their children are a little older and can help out at home, they don’t need to go to school anymore. But helping out at home is just doing odd jobs in the fields. A year’s work in the fields may not be worth a month’s work on a construction site, right?”

"Yes."

"The starting wage is 25 yuan per day. The school construction will be carried out in batches and phases. Priority will be given to the surrounding village primary schools that only have grades one, two, and three. We aim to complete the construction of all six grades within two years. When the school is fully open, the school will be fully completed. During this period, a professional construction team will be formed to focus on school construction. This will also ensure that the parents of local students can always have work."

"..."

"..."

"..."

It felt like listening to gibberish. Not only were the local officials from Pengcheng City completely dumbfounded, but even the young talents from the Youth Development Foundation of Jiangkou Province were utterly bewildered.

They had no idea what Comrade Zhang Zhengdong was talking about.

No, I understand every single word, but when put together, it sounds like they're speaking Swahili.

This is completely different from what we agreed on before.

Uncle Zhang, on the other hand, looked completely unconcerned. He knew that his nephew must have had his reasons for doing what he did.

So what if it's a big event?
It has to be big!

That's more like it!
If something goes wrong, no one can afford to take the responsibility.
Once you get the results, just don't come over and try to take them away.

“I think the itinerary for the inspection needs to be changed. I plan to talk to the local people directly about the pros and cons. Face-to-face communication is the most effective way to do work.”

"..."

"..."

Is it something you can do on a whim?

Director Zhang, you bastard...

His ramblings disrupted the plans of the "think tanks" in several districts and counties of Pengcheng City. That same day, Uncle Zhang went to check along the county road in Chenzhuang Town.

Since it was already winter, the fields stretched as far as the eye could see, with houses in the distance indicating village settlements. Uncle Zhang picked up his binoculars, which he had prepared beforehand, and looked around. There were few wells in this area, and the irrigation ditches in the fields were rather crudely designed, but this was also related to the environment.

Unlike the southern rural areas of Gianggu Province, although the surrounding counties of Phung Di District are all large counties with populations of over a million, the per capita arable land area is actually higher than that of Sa Chau City and Chi Duong City.

If a family has a sufficient amount of farmland, the irrigation area should first be large and wide enough, and only then should water be drawn into the corners and edges.

The cost of motorized wells is not low, so unless they are used together during the busy farming season, only one or two households will operate them individually, and some village officials will even collect water fees separately.

However, Zhang Zhengdong did not linger at the machine well, but instead counted the graves in the fields.

After making a rough estimate, he flipped to a page in his notebook, which listed the fees of several of the most famous Taoist priests in Jiangkou Province.

The bureaus and commissions in Pengcheng that specifically received Zhang Zhengdong were mainly from the Civil Affairs Bureau, followed by the Education Bureau, and they were currently being tormented by Zhang Zhengdong.

After bumping along the dilapidated county road for more than ten miles, Zhang Zhengdong suddenly asked, "Director Shi, are there any taboos or customs regarding relocating graves here?"

"what?"

"..."

"..."

No, weren't we just talking about hiring students' parents as helpers?
How did it veer off to the topic of relocating graves?
They couldn't answer Zhang Zhengdong's bizarre questions at all; their answers were completely off-topic and irrelevant.

Director Shi didn't want to say anything; he just wanted to throw Uncle Zhang a dog—cooked, of course, braised in soy sauce.

Fortunately, everyone had mobile phones with them. After a few brief exchanges of greetings, they learned about the costs and preparations for relocating graves and building cemeteries.

After hearing the approximate number, Uncle Zhang remained noncommittal, only diligently recording it in his notebook.

After a busy day, around midnight, Uncle Zhang kept turning his old East German watch over his wrist at the guesthouse. Around 11:30 p.m., a phone call came to his Motorola.

However, he immediately hung up the phone and called back using the guesthouse's landline.

"Don't you know what time it is? You said eleven o'clock, and it's already eleven-thirty before you call!" "Are you even human? Didn't I say it might be a little late? Do you think Pengli County is Jiangning? When I was on the boat on Fanghu Lake, there was no signal at all. My feet were practically worn through, and I'm still soaking them while I'm talking to you. Don't even mention it, it was so tough, there wasn't a single decent road. Even farm tractors had to find a gap to pass each other..."

The person on the other end of the phone was naturally Uncle Zhang's friend, Secretary Liu Yuanshan. Unlike Uncle Zhang, who could still boast about dog meat, Liu Yuanshan's investigation was simply indescribable.

Some stopped his car and knelt down to plead their case; some thought he was there to forcibly seize paddy fields, so they called their relatives to lecture him; some thought he was an undercover agent, so a ruthless person planned to feed him celery; some thought he was there to buy a wife; some thought he was there to buy a son…

Secretary Liu was incredibly annoyed with Uncle Zhang. All he did was bark like a dog. Now look what happened. He was fine when he came, but when he'll go back... well, that's hard to say.

Liu Yuanshan discovered that all the villages surrounding Fanghu, in all directions, needed a Hope Primary School.

It is truly necessary.

His conscience prevailed over reason, and even though he knew he had to suppress this impulse, he still softened.

The school building was so dilapidated it was full of holes. The substitute teacher was wearing his most presentable white shirt, but it was winter!

The dilapidated walls, run-down houses, and rotten wooden tables and chairs that seem like something out of an old movie are all visible to the naked eye.

There are many people who want change, including villagers, substitute teachers, officials, adults, and children.

Liu Yuanshan had never felt that a mere 500,000 yuan would carry such weight, making him feel suffocated.

Before soaking his feet, he actually vomited. It was nausea from being emotionally overwhelmed that made Liu Yuanshan vomit.

I wanted to do something, but I realized that all the skills I had in the eastern part of Jiangning City... were a complete pile of crap.

He is nothing.

"So, do you want to sleep or do you want to discuss this?"

"What new developments have emerged?"

"Here's the thing, I don't quite understand why Zhang An wanted me to spread the word about the Super Elementary School first. And also mention the recruitment drive beforehand. Is there some reason behind this?"

"First, we need to consider your nephew's personality. He's definitely not one to do things without a reason, right?"

That's true.

"So the super elementary school itself is definitely a money-losing business. But once Pengcheng City and one of its districts and counties really cooperate, it's like an arrow on a bowstring that has to be released. At that time, the local area will be in a dilemma, because your nephew can just pack up and leave at any time. This operation is too big, and the funds of the Youth Development Foundation or Pengcheng City can't handle it. They can't even scrape together a few million a year, but according to his design, it's not just a matter of a few million. At that time, Pengcheng City and one of its districts and counties will definitely be in the same boat as your nephew. There's no way around it; the operation is too big. Don't even mention thousands of students; even if there are only thirty or fifty students, if they suddenly have to stop going to school, that would be a major incident."

"Damn... that's so sneaky."

"You think they could have become top scorers without resorting to trickery? Bah! That's bullshit! That's intelligence!"

"What about hiring? How do you plan to hire? Do you really need thousands of people? I think a few dozen is the most you can manage."

"Are you stupid? The construction teams that the villagers rent themselves can't compare to the established ones. Your nephew's Jianggao branch school will be fully under construction next year. The project that was originally given to the Shazhou City construction company can be broken up and subcontracted. At that time, it will be easy to divide up a hundred or so people."

"There are only about a hundred."

"Use your brain! As long as the team is established, Jiangkou Province has no shortage of construction sites. With your nephew's connections, he could easily start an engineering company. Why would he need to worry about labor shortages in civil engineering? Also, Lao Zhang, don't forget that last year, because of the 'Top Scholar' expansion project, your nephew first used Guan Changsheng to establish his authority. In November, we secured the engineering vehicle training ground and signed a long-term cooperation agreement for the used equipment. Don't you have any thoughts on this?"

"What's his idea? He's been saying for a long time that he wants to open this kind of training course."

"Are you fucking an idiot?!"

"Why are you barking like a dog? Get to the point, I'm listening to you."

"You son of a bitch, you're just lucky. It's fucking disgusting that the 'God of Literature' was reincarnated into your family..."

"..."

Despite his best friend's constant rants, Uncle Zhang paid no heed, treating it as Liu Yuanshan talking nonsense.

After all, when it comes to using foul language, the old company commander Qiu Jianmin was far worse than Liu Yuanshan.

After regaining his composure, Liu Yuanshan, suppressing his nausea and jealousy, analyzed the overall market situation for Uncle Zhang.

If you look at this in isolation, there's nothing wrong with it.

Whether it's skills training for engineering equipment or vehicles, whether it's short-term training with fees or long-term intensive training, it's all normal operation for a training institution.

But here's the problem: the biggest challenge for newly established training institutions like this is finding it difficult to attract students.

These days, even learning to operate an excavator is all about fathers leading sons, masters leading apprentices, uncles leading nephews... or older brothers leading younger brothers. No matter which province or city you go to, you form gangs to protect yourself and make a living.

Fighting is a common occurrence when it comes to competing for business.

Given this situation, there will be a characteristic: a boss who contracts a construction site will inevitably make good use of workers and foremen from a certain place.

Legitimate training institutions can only partner with established construction and engineering companies. Even if regular schools advertise loudly, they can't guarantee a 100% job placement rate.

Something that doesn't exist.

But for Zhang Da'an, there is a closed loop.

If "Zhang An Education" wants to expand, it must develop a branch of Xindongweigang Middle School, and at least ensure that there is a "top scorer tutoring class" in each of the twelve prefecture-level cities; on the contrary, the "top scorer tutoring class" for senior high school students does not necessarily need to be in every prefecture-level city.

The reason is simple: the middle school entrance exams are different for each group; the college entrance exams are all the same.

So no matter how things develop, the hardware will always require civil engineering, and will require construction workers, skilled workers, and other civil engineering labor.

Zhang Da'an now has the ability to train and employ engineering vehicles. He has no shortage of venues, equipment, or engineering projects; what he lacks is labor and trainees.

At this point, there are two problems in seeking students. First, social recruitment is uncontrollable, as it involves all sorts of people. Second, whether the students complete a short course or pursue further studies, once they leave, they have nothing to do with the training institution, and they have no reason to mention to Zhang Da'an where they go to work.

It's completely different now.

In theory, Zhang Da'an could use primary schools to make promises while simultaneously organizing a considerable number of township party organizations, forming a highly competitive group rather than individuals.

In addition, given Zhang Da'an's special status in many military recruitment areas in Lingxi Province, his "cousins" could come to learn to drive and take driving tests, and of course, they could also learn to operate forklifts and work as warehouse managers.

If you include the villagers from Wuxing Village, then Zhang Da'an will have three stable "sources of soldiers," and he can quickly pull out an entire team for any kind of job.

With this kind of fighting spirit, let alone district or county projects, even national-level major projects, if he bids for one, regardless of whether he wins or loses, the project bidding party will treat him well, and the person in charge will personally explain to Zhang Da'an why he didn't win.

The reasons for this are not only the organization's stance towards the working class, but also the competition in the business world and the market.

Construction teams always come to Jiangkou Province...

"Super foremen" like Zhang Da'an, who can recruit a large number of clean and honest workers of all kinds, are directly linked to the year-end employment statistics. In some key cities, the management departments also have to explain why they don't use these clean and honest workers, but instead use those dynamic social groups.

It took Liu Yuanshan a lot of effort to make Uncle Zhang understand just how extraordinary his nephew was.

They don't operate within one or two small circles; the moment they step in, the concept of "the big picture" is practically etched onto their face.

What Liu Yuanshan admires even more is that, to this day, the Youth Development Foundation of Jiangkou Province is still unaware of the huge minefield it has stepped on; it's like dancing in a minefield.

Once Zhang Da'an abandons that mess, the line of talented young people crying for help will stretch from Jiangning all the way to the capital.

"What's wrong with his brain? He's so insidious."

Uncle Zhang is of normal intelligence. After being enlightened by his good friend, he realized that his nephew's previous actions were already quite sinister, and now they are even more sinister.

"Damn it, the key issue is that there really isn't enough funding at the local level to revitalize vocational skills training. In the labor market, it's basically still unregulated, which is a kind of wild development. The standardization of skills in gray-area jobs is still in the planning stages. Even in Luzhou, some are led by experienced masters, and purely standardized and professional skills account for a very small percentage."

This statement also implies that Zhang Da'an is engaged in a professional field.

As long as they can sustain the business until they reach a certain scale, Zhang Da'an's vocational training card will be a top-tier trump card, just like "Xindongweigang Middle School," and even if the profits are not as high as "Xindongweigang Middle School," they won't be much different.

After all, vocational skills training, taking a five-day short course as an example, can generate between four hundred and two thousand yuan in revenue. The funds come in and out very quickly, which means that there will be a long-term cash balance in the accounts of vocational skills training businesses.

Just having this cash there is enough for any bank in Jiangning to give Zhang Da'an free advertising and refer business to him, unless they're blind.

Do you think banks don't know where civil engineering projects are starting? Do you think they don't know where construction projects are being approved?

Zhang Da'an didn't need to take the initiative; his connections and financial opportunities were readily available.

After finally figuring it out, Uncle Zhang suddenly asked a question that he thought was very clever, perhaps having caught his nephew's flaws in thinking.

Even the wisest person can make a mistake.

"Old Liu, what if these people take the training, then go on their own, or even just leave?"

"You son of a bitch, you're a complete idiot! You motherfucker..."

Completely broken down, Liu Yuanshan cursed and slammed the receiver down.

He was so angry he almost suffered carbon dioxide poisoning. It took him a while to calm down before he called back.

After connecting the call, Liu Yuanshan, having composed himself, said with a dark face, "Use your pig brain to think about this seriously. Their children are all in Zhang An's hands. Don't they want the reputation of being two-time top scorers in the college entrance examination? Go around the world and ask around. How many families wouldn't want their children studying under 'Wenquxing' (a nickname implying academic success)? What's the school called? It's called 'Zhang An Hope Primary School,' not 'Zhang Zhengdong Mental Rehabilitation Center'—"

"Oh, right. So those children are hostages..."

"Can't you think before you speak?!"

"Oh right, right, I shouldn't have said that. What hostages? I must have lost my mind to say something like that."

"..."

Damn you.

Liu Yuanshan was curious whether Zhang Zhengdong had saved the life of the "God of Literature" in his past life, so that he could achieve great success in this life without even having to use his brain.

He only ushered in the first spring of his career in his forties. It's not impossible to say that he was a late bloomer, but is this idiot really a "great talent"?

However, this idiot finally realized that the whole thing was orchestrated by his nephew, and that the idiot faced no risk whatsoever. All he had to do was walk around, show up, and pretend to be protecting the project.

What does it have to do with Zhang Zhengdong when it comes to doing serious business, from fund allocation and personnel arrangements to multi-party cooperation between government and enterprises?

Liu Yuanshan even guessed that, to this day, Zhang Zhengdong still doesn't know what he, the leader of the "designated education assistance group," is actually doing.

It's outrageous.

The thought of his feet being blistered and his soul seemingly being reborn in Pengli County made Liu Yuanshan truly envious of Zhang Zhengdong. That bastard had no pressure, no inner conflict, let alone any moral struggle.

I was talking to Zhang Zhengdong on the phone until late at night. I was planning to go to sleep soon, so I casually asked, "Old Zhang, don't you have to go to the countryside during the day? Go catch up on some sleep."

"I'll just sleep until noon. There's a top-notch dog meat chef in Chenzhuang Town. I'll go there for a meal as soon as I wake up. Everything's been arranged."

"..."

For a fleeting moment, looking at Liu Yuanshan with the overnight fried dough sticks in the stainless steel basin on the small coffee table not far away, he really wanted to shove Zhang Zhengdong's head into Xuanwu Lake and swish it around in it.

(End of this chapter)